NATIONAL NEWS

Trump wants mass deportations, but US views of immigration are more positive since he took office

Jul 11, 2025, 4:02 AM

Immigration advocates protest recent detentions by ICE outside the immigration court in San Antonio...

Immigration advocates protest recent detentions by ICE outside the immigration court in San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just months after President Donald Trump returned to office vowing mass deportations, the share of U.S. adults saying immigration is a “good thing” for the country has jumped substantially — including among Republicans, according to .

About 8 in 10 Americans, 79%, say immigration is “a good thing” for the country today, an increase from 64% a year ago and a high point in the nearly 25-year trend. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing right now, down from 32% last year.

During Democratic President Joe Biden’s term in office, negative views of immigration had increased markedly, reaching a high point in the months before Trump, a Republican, took office. The new Gallup data suggests U.S. adults are returning to more pro-immigrant views that could complicate Trump’s push for sweeping deportations in his second term. Americans’ views of immigration policies have shifted dramatically in the last year — including among Republicans, who have become much more content with immigration levels since Trump took office but who have also grown more supportive of pathways to citizenship for people in the country illegally.

The broader trend also shows that public opinion is generally much more favorable to immigrants than it was decades ago.

The vast majority of U.S. adults say immigration is good

Americans’ more positive view on immigration is driven primarily by a shift among Republicans and independents.

About two-thirds of Republicans now say immigrants are “a good thing” for the country, up from 39% last year. And independents moved from about two-thirds last year to 80% this year.

Democrats have maintained their overwhelmingly positive view of immigration in the last few years.

The share of Americans who want immigration decreased has dropped significantly

In the time since Trump took office, Republicans have become more satisfied with the level of immigration in the country.

The share of Americans who want immigration “decreased” in the United States dropped from 55% to 30%. While fewer Americans now want to decrease the number of people who come to the U.S. from other countries, more want immigration levels kept the same than want higher immigration levels. About 4 in 10 say immigration should be kept at its current level, and only 26% say immigration should be increased.

The poll suggests Republicans’ sharp anti-immigrant views highlighted before November’s election — which helped return Trump to the White House — have largely faded. The share of Republicans saying immigration should be decreased dropped from a high of 88% to 48% in the last year. Close to 4 in 10 Republicans now say immigration levels should remain the same, and only about 1 in 10 would like an increase.

Much of that Republican movement likely comes from support for the Trump administration’s stringent immigration enforcement, but there are also signs in the Gallup polling that Republicans have become more supportive of pathways to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally and more likely to see benefits from immigration that could be at odds with the Trump administration’s priorities.

More Americans back a pathway to citizenship

Most Americans favor allowing immigrants living in the U.S. illegally the chance to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements over a period of time, the poll shows.

Almost 9 in 10 U.S. adults, 85%, favor a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, and nearly as many say they favor a path to citizenship for all immigrants in the country illegally as long as they meet certain requirements.

That increased support for pathways to citizenship largely comes from Republicans, about 6 in 10 of whom now support that, up from 46% last year. Support was already very high among independents and Democrats.

Support for deporting immigrants in the country illegally has also decreased across the board, but less significantly. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults now favor deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, down from about half a year ago.

National News

Rebecca Torres stands in front of a military vehicle approaching a federal immigration agents raid ...

Associated Press

Authorities say 200 immigrants arrested in raids on 2 Southern California farms

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — Federal immigration authorities said Friday they arrested about 200 immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally in raids a day earlier on two California cannabis farm sites. Protesters engaged in a tense standoff with authorities at one of the farms during the operation. The Department of Homeland Security said in […]

1 minute ago

Supporters of Kilmar Abrego Garcia rally outside of the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., wher...

Associated Press

Judge scolds Justice Department for ‘refusal’ to detail deportation plans for Kilmar Abrego Garcia

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland scolded the Trump administration on Friday for its “utter refusal” to detail its deportation plans for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, including where the government plans to send him and whether he’ll get a chance to fight his expulsion before he’s whisked away. The Salvadoran national could be […]

17 minutes ago

Associated Press

Chemical maker DuPont agrees to $27M settlement in polluted water lawsuit in upstate New York

HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — Chemical maker DuPont has agreed to a $27 million settlement to resolve a nearly decade-long lawsuit over the contamination of an upstate New York village’s water supply. The deal was announced Wednesday by lawyers representing residents of Hoosick Falls, located northwest of Albany, just as the case was headed to […]

42 minutes ago

Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at Dade-Collier Tr...

Associated Press

Detainees describe worms in food, sewage near beds inside ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

MIAMI (AP) — Worms in the food. Toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste. Days without a shower or prescription medicine. Mosquitoes and insects everywhere. Lights on all night. Air conditioners that suddenly shut off in the tropical heat. Detainees forced to use recorded phone lines to speak with their lawyers and loved […]

2 hours ago

This photo provided by Delaware River and Bay Authority shows the scene where a tractor-trailer cab...

Associated Press

Truck smashes through barrier and plunges off a bridge into the Delaware River

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A tractor-trailer cab crashed through a concrete barrier Friday and plunged off the Delaware Memorial Bridge into the Delaware River, authorities said. It wasn’t clear how many people were in the cab, which was found in about 20 feet of water, according to the Delaware River Bay and Authority. Two four-lane […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

Appeals court throws out plea deal for alleged mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court has thrown out an agreement that would have allowed accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal that would have spared him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks. The decision Friday undoes an attempt to wrap up more than two […]

3 hours ago

Trump wants mass deportations, but US views of immigration are more positive since he took office